Anyone used Clarity Ferm to make gluten free beer?

[Zymotik]

Ive spotted this additive for making our homebrew gluten free (Clarity Ferm), but I'm wondering what it does to the taste? Anyone tried it? My family is full of those wanting to avoid gluten and good gf beer is hard to find!

 

[suffolkbeer]

I’d be very interested in knowing about this too!

 

[Cwrw666]

A few years ago one of my daughters developed some food intolerances (which she later grew out of fortunately) one of which was gluten. So I made a brew using clarityferm. It had no effect on the taste whatsoever (and you wouldn't expect it to as all it does is break down proteins into amino acids). I've no idea whether it got rid of the gluten however as by the time the brew had conditioned she'd moved on from gluten and was intolerant to lactose...
If the drinker is a fullblown celiac however, it would be worthwhile getting the brew tested though I believe if you add the stuff at the same time as the yeast it's pretty foolproof. A lot of commercial gluten free beers use clarityferm.

 

[Zymotik]

Thanks for the info. Selfishly I'm concerned about the taste.... But, not so selfishly, I also want to be able to share my beer, so knowing it does the job without altering the taste is good. Thanks @Cwrw666. I wonder how much it costs to test? It'd have to be a big batch to make it worthwhile.

 

[chthon]

http://beerandwinejournal.com/clarity-ferm-iii/

 

[The Baron]

I think from memory in the blurb it does say it converts to half the limit to call a product gluten free so should be suitable for coeliacs

 

[AdeDunn]

I did a test batch with it. I can't say if it was gluten free or not though, it did however help a little bit with chill haze.

As far as I can tell it didn't effect flavour at all, or head retention. It was a clone of Banks's bitter, and was pretty darn close apart from a hint of sweetness not present in the commercial beer. I blame too gentle a boil for that though, I boil at an insane level now but for less time.

 

[yorkshirebb]

Hi - as a coeliac, I have used clarity ferm over the last 5 years in initially kit brews, and more recently a combination of all grain brews (using a grainfather) and also some kits (most recently the mangrove jacks grapefriut IPA and a their stout kit). Taste wise, never had any complaints from anyone I have shared bottles with, and I've never had any reactions to gluten in the beer. I have never had the beer tested, but do know what it's like to be glutened as I'm quite sensitive and therefore am confident it's doing what it says.
I did speak to the brewer at St Andrews Brewhouse who do one brew which is gluten free, and he confirmed they use clarity ferm, and also send a sample of each batch to have it tested so they can sell it as gluten free. He also suggested that the reason they didn't have more gluten free beer was the if it was gluten free it must be in some way inferior, however there was no impact on taste what so ever.
An alternative which has the same effect is NBS Clarity which the dose is .5ml per 23L match from themaltmiller - I've used this over the last 2 years as found that the plastic viles you receive clarity ferm in don't tend to travel well in the post and have leaked.

 

[Zymotik]

@yorkshirebb very helpful, thank you!

And cheers everyone else!

 

[Zymotik]

http://beerandwinejournal.com/clarity-ferm-iii/

They reckoned it improved the taste!

 

[Cwrw666]

Well it was developed to get rid of chill haze, the gluten free effect is a side effect.

 

[MrRook]

I did a test batch with it. I can't say if it was gluten free or not though, it did however help a little bit with chill haze.

As far as I can tell it didn't effect flavour at all, or head retention. It was a clone of Banks's bitter, and was pretty darn close apart from a hint of sweetness not present in the commercial beer. I blame too gentle a boil for that though, I boil at an insane level now but for less time.

Check out the Sept/Oct 2016 issue of Zymurgy for an article about gluten free brewing which includes a picture of two pints of beer from a split batch: half with clarityferm and half without. There is a difference in the head and body, both tasted good.

 

[AdeDunn]

Not much point me using it regularly to be honest, we don't have any problems with gluten, and the effect it had on chill haze can easily be reproduced with a much more vigorous boil, and giving the beer longer in the fridge before drinking it.

I can honestly say though I didn't notice any difference in body or head comparing it to actual Banks's Bitter. In fact the only real differences were that mine had more haze, and better head retention. lol The bottle of Banks's poured with zero head, and stayed that way...

The trial was to a) see if it helped with chill haze, and b) to see if my father in law had less bloat after drinking it. The haze results were wishy washy, and my F-I-L can't remember what beer he had last anyway bless him.